Silver Fox

If you haven't jumped aboard her bandwagon already, now would be an opportune time to do so, especially given the multi-talented comedian, actor and author is coming to Australia on her first stand-up tour, performing one show in Sydney and Melbourne.

Of course, you're a person of surpassing taste and refinement, so you're already aware Silverman is pretty fucking funny, whether she's on stage, on screen (starring in her very funny TV series The Sarah Silverman Program, or making guest appearances on the likes of Mr Show with Bob and David, Bob's Burgers and Louie, just to name a few) or on the page (as evinced by her recent memoir, The Bedwetter: Stories of Courage, Redemption and Pee). And then there's the legendary viral video 'I'm Fucking Matt Damon', in which she enlisted the Bourne Identity star for a good-natured stab at her former partner, talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel. (He replied with his own video, 'I'm Fucking Ben Affleck'.)

But as of late, Silverman has been expanding her repertoire, taking on a supporting role in Sarah Polley's acclaimed drama Take This Waltz, and, perhaps more shockingly, lending her voice to the big-screen Disney cartoon Wreck-It Ralph, in which she plays a anime-inspired video game character with the awesome name of Vanellope von Schweetz. “I connect to Vanellope so much,” says Silverman. “She takes the thing that holds her back in life and makes it her superpower. I love that.” (To learn more, check out Wreck-It Ralph when it opens in cinemas Boxing Day. Seriously, do. It's really good.)

“I have such different fans depending on what they know me from,” she adds. “There are the people that know me from stand-up and internet videos, people who know me from my show, people who know me from [the TV series] Monk and family-friendly stuff, kids' shows like Yo Gabba Gabba and of course Wreck-It Ralph, so it's a very eclectic and [an] often random sampling of people.”

But while she is increasingly known for a variety of different roles and projects, stand-up remains one of her great loves. “I love stand up,” she says. “It's scary and raw and in the moment, and you can only be as good as the crowd you're talking to.”

There's sometimes a political edge to Silverman's material – she released hilarious video shorts about the voting process prior to the American presidential elections both this year and in 2008 – but she admits that the bulk of her material will focus on “social issues, social politics and also just straight-up silliness”. Oh, and the TV series Lost, with which she has a teeny bit of an obsession. “I watched every episode of every season and I just loved it and that love has bled into shows I've done,” she says. “I always seem to write a Lost reference somewhere in the shows I've done since it's been on.”

Something else audiences can expect from a Sarah Silverman show? Swearing. Let's face it, the lady has a reputation for slanging a few choice four-letter words about. (One article described her as 'cuss-prone'.) But she's not simply deploying profanity for profanity's sake. “I think swearing has to be a specific choice to be funny,” she says. “Not peppered in an attempt to show irreverence – that never works – but a choice of words. Even if that choice is pure gratuitousness. Is that a word?” (It is.)

Overall, however, audiences should prop themselves for a “loosey-goosey” night of comedy that's “just me and a mic and you,” says Silverman. “Also, the brilliant Todd Barry and Australia's own Wil Anderson! Woo-hoo!”